


Don't Worry, Drink a Passion Fruitini

by MarsGem



Series: The Winchester AU [2]
Category: Life of the Party (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2020-09-19 11:00:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20330032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarsGem/pseuds/MarsGem
Summary: Ren and Astra go on a date. It's just fluff, folks.





	Don't Worry, Drink a Passion Fruitini

**Author's Note:**

> You asked for the date, you got the date. <3

“I don’t see what the problem is?” Cassian’s voice said from Astra’s phone that was currently sat on his dressing table on speaker, “You look great in the photo.”

Astra was stood staring at his reflection wearing a pink tie-dye t-shirt he’d just turned into a crop top. It was an old one he never wore due to the giant stain on the bottom half from when he’d spilt his tea down himself. Cassian had suggested he crop it and now Astra was having a minor crisis about life.

“And you’re not just saying that?” Astra asked, pulling at the new hem of the top.

“Astra, I never just _ say _ anything, especially not when it comes to clothes,” Cassian replied. He was right. Cassian meant everything he said all the time. It was sometimes a problem.

“What if Ren hates it?” Astra whined, biting his lip.

“He told you to wear a crop top,” Cassian reminded him. Astra could tell from his tone that he was getting bored of going around in circles.

“Okay! I’ll wear it!”

“Good. Now, I’ve got to go, text me updates about the date, ciao!” And he hung up. 

Astra stared at the phone and sighed. He was anxious about the date. He hadn’t been on one in so long. Now he was thinking about it, Astra wondered if he’d ever actually been on a proper date. He shook his head and returned to his newfound hobby of glaring at his reflection. His outfit _ was _ cute. He couldn’t deny it. Ripped blue jeans, white trainers and his pink top. 

It was April, so he needed a jacket, “Oh good God I need a jacket,” Astra said aloud only now actually realising. At this rate, he’d never leave.

He opened his wardrobe and looked at his array of clothes. He reached in a grabbed his white corduroy jacket. It’d do. Especially given he didn’t have much more time before he’d be late to meet Ren.

Accepting that his outfit was the best it was going to be, Astra grabbed his earphones and left his flat, heading towards the bus stop. The crisp spring breeze blew through the air and threatened to ruin his neatly styled hair which was the only part of Astra’s appearance that he wasn’t having a small panic about.

The bouncy guitar of Frank Turner filled Astra’s ears as he stepped onto the bus. He felt his heartbeat return to normal and his general stress levels go down. It’d all be okay.

Astra pulled out his phone and opened Instagram to post a generic “I’m on a bus” post to his story. He added Be More Kind to the picture and pressed send. Mere moments later he got a message from Ren.

**ren.ard **Good song choice :)

Astra grinned, delighted that Ren also liked Frank Turner. He had good taste.

**astraofficial **thanks! i love all his stuff ^^

**ren.ard **Same! I’m listening to him now because of you

**astraofficial **nice! which song?

**ren.ard **Don’t Worry <3

**astraofficial **ooooh, i’ll put that one on next

Before he knew it, Astra had arrived at his stop. He took one of his earphones out and called out to the grumpy looking bus driver, “Thank you! Have a nice day!” The bus driver just grunted in return and Astra stepped off the bus. He liked to be polite, even if the rest of the world didn’t.

His bus stop was right next to the Everyman Cinema so it only took him a minute to walk to it from where he got off. Outside wearing a black denim jacket that had patches up the sleeves, big cherry red Doc Martens and aviators stood Ren, looking at his phone and bobbing his head gently to whatever music he was listening to.

“Hey,” Astra said when he was near enough that Ren would probably be able to hear him. Ren turned his head and smiled at the sight of Astra.

“Hey,,” he said, taking his headphones off and letting them hang around his neck, "nice top," he added. Astra grinned, all anxiety about his outfit vanished.

"Thanks," he said, "it had a tea stain on it so Cassian said I should just crop it."

Ren nodded, approvingly, "Sometimes Cassian knows what he's talking about,"

"He'd say he always does," Astra laughed.

"I'll agree to disagree with him on that," Ren said with a cheeky twinkle in his eye, “anyway, shall we?” He motioned his head at the door to the cinema.

Astra nodded, “We shall,” he replied and the two of them walked inside.

“Right, as the one who invited you out on a date,” Ren said, pushing his sunglasses up onto his head to reveal his deep green eyes, “I feel it is my job to get the popcorn.”

“I won’t argue with that,” Astra grinned, “as long as you are happy for me to pay for my own ticket for the film?”

Ren shrugged, “I suppose I can agree to those terms,”

They walked up to the counter to buy tickets, Ren got popcorn as he’d insisted and they went into one of the screens.

* * *

“Okay, confession,” Ren said, popping a purple olive into his mouth, “I’d actually heard of you before we met.”

They were sat in Zizzi’s after the film and were sharing a starter of olives. Astra looked at Ren, amber eyes wide, “You’re kidding.”

“I knew you’d been too drunk to remember,” Ren grinned and picked up another olive.

Astra frowned, “What do you mean?”

“At Elyse’s party, we got chatting and you asked what my Instagram was,” Ren explained, “well, when you looked me up you noticed that you could ‘follow back’ rather than just follow. I’ve been following your music for ages.” 

“Oh,” Astra felt a blush spread over his cheeks. He didn’t know what to say. Ren was right, he had forgotten that interaction, but now he’d been reminded there was a vague memory there.

“Elyse told me her friend was a musician and said I should look him up,” Ren continued, “I listened to your song Only Trees Know My Secrets and was instantly hooked! I love your style, it’s so,” Ren paused and squinted trying to think of the right word, “gentle.” He settled on.

Astra was so flustered that he didn’t quite know what to say. He’d met fans before, but he’d never spoken to someone he liked and discovered they were a fan later on. He picked up the last olive and popped it into his mouth, “That’s really sweet of you, Ren,” he managed.

“It’s the truth,” Ren grinned. He took a sip of his red wine then added, “You’re cute when you’re flustered.” Well, that was the nail in the coffin. Astra was incapable of answering, he was so completely blindsided in the best way.

Instead of making any proper conversation, he picked up his _Passion Fruitini_ cocktail and took a long drink. Ren was watching him with a lopsided smirk on his face which made the left of his nose scrunch up a bit. It was adorable.

Before Astra could say anything else, the waiter appeared with their main courses, “Enjoy,” he said with a flashy smile then swanned off in that way waiters did.

Astra was grateful that they both had pizza to distract them and that he had time to come up with something to say other than the verbal version of a keyboard smash. He wasn’t sure how Ren managed to turn him into mush, but here he was.

“Oh,” Astra looked up at Ren and saw he had _somehow_ managed to get sauce on his nose, “you’ve got something here,” he said, tapping his own nose to show Ren where the sauce was.

Ren went crossed-eyed to look at the tip of his nose and pretended to try to lick the sauce off. Astra laughed and before he knew he was doing it, he licked his thumb and reached across the table to wipe the sauce off his date’s nose, “I got you,” he said.

“Cheers,” Ren said softly, his voice coming out deeper than usual. The deeper pitch made Astra’s stomach do a backflip.

They returned to silence, both flustered by what had just happened.

* * *

“I can’t manage a whole dessert,” Ren said, staring longingly at the dessert menu, “but it all looks _ so good _.”

“We could share?” Astra suggested. Never before in his life had Astra suggested sharing a dessert. It was the best part of the meal, why would he share? But faced with the option of sharing a bowl of gelato, or a brownie, or tiramisu, or cheesecake or, _ oh it all sounds so good! _ Astra shook his head slightly and returned to his train of thought; When faced with the option of sharing _ any _ dessert with Ren, Astra suddenly liked the idea.

“That’s a good idea,” Ren nodded. He closed his menu, “Right, you choose then because I doubt I’ll have much so I want it to be something you like.”

“Righto,” Astra looked at the menu again, “I think the salted caramel brownie sounds amazing.”

“Then it’s decided!”

* * *

Astra was tipsy and had an arm slung around Ren’s broad shoulders. Ren had insisted on paying for dinner and Astra hadn’t put up a fight. Free food was always good. In his tipsy state, Astra was very aware of Ren’s strong hand gripping his waist. He liked the way it felt. It made him feel safe.

“Which bus stop do you need?” Ren asked.

“One of them,” Astra giggled, “sorry, hang on,” he stopped and looked around for a moment, getting his bearings, “it’s the one by the cinema!”

“Great, not far then,” Ren smiled.

“I can walk on my own,” Astra insisted, removing his arm from around Ren and proceeding to nearly fall over, “maybe not,” he giggled again. _ Oh my God, stop giggling, _ Astra told himself sternly. Giggling like a 12-year-old probably wasn’t the best way to win Ren over.

“I’m going to keep holding on to you,” Ren laughed, pulling Astra close again.

“No argument here!” Astra giggled. _ Stop that! _

It took a little longer than normal to reach the bus stop, but eventually, they did. Even when they were standing still, Ren continued to hold Astra, like he thought he’d fall over if he stopped.

When the bus arrived Astra attempted to detangle himself from Ren, “What are you doing?” Ren asked.

“Getting on my bus so I can go home?” Astra replied, his sentence came out as a question, which wasn't what he'd intended.

“I know, but why are you trying to leave me here?” Ren asked gently, “I want to make sure you get back safe.”

“It’s Winchester, Ren,” Astra laughed, he was pleased it wasn’t a giggle this time, “I’ll be fine,”

“Are you boys getting on or not?” The bus driver asked.

“We are,” Ren said and helped Astra onto the bus, paying for his fair while Astra waved his ticket. They sat down on the nearest seats and Astra instantly felt extremely tired the moment he didn’t have to focus on standing.

“I don’t think I’m tipsy,” Astra mumbled. He blinked hard to try and fend off sleep.

“No,” Ren smirked his lopsided smirk again, “are you under the impression that you’re sober?”

“Noooo,” Astra laughed, “I’m _ drunk_,” he whispered the last word.

Ren laughed softly and gave Astra’s hand a squeeze, “I think you might just be. Which is why I didn’t want you going home alone, couldn’t have you falling asleep on the bus and never getting home.”

“That’s very sweet of you,” Astra said with a big yawn. He leaned against Ren, “I had fun,” he said, “thanks, Ren.” Ren just smiled in response.

It took all of Astra’s strength to not fall asleep on the ten-minute bus journey. It also took Ren poking him approximately every 30 seconds.

When they got off the bus at Astra’s stop Ren returned to helping Astra walk. The street was dimly lit and Astra was really grateful for Ren’s assistance. He’d only had two cocktails, but he was the _biggest_ lightweight. It was something he’d been teased for since he started drinking, but he didn’t care, it meant he spent less than half of what his friends did on night’s out.

“This is me,” Astra gestured to the block of flats he called home, “hang on,” he started to pat all his pockets until he finally found the one with his keys in. He shuffled up to his front door and turned to Ren who had his hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans, “wanna come in?” He asked.

“I- I think you’re a bit drunk for me to-”

Astra shushed him, “I meant you can sleep on my sofa,” Astra fumbled with the key in the lock, “ha, wrong key,” he carefully swapped to the other key on his keyring, “I am definitely too drunk for _you-know-what_.”

“Do you _want_ me to stay?” Ren asked carefully.

“BINGO! Ssssh! Wait, that was me,” he turned to Ren who was making a truly valiant effort at not laughing at Astra shushing himself, “I do,” Astra said in answer to Ren's question. He pulled his key from the lock and pushed the door open without another word. With no other option, Ren followed.

They made their way up the stairs very carefully and reached the door to Astra’s flat. Before Astra could attempt to unlock the door himself, Ren took the keys from him and did it for him. It was probably for the best.

Astra carefully shut the door to his flat and whacked the lightswitch, proceeding to blind himself from the shock of the sudden electric light, “Fuck off,” he mumbled.

“Astra!” Ren gasped, “I’ve never heard you swear!”

“Huh?” Astra frowned, “I didn’t realise I did,” he shrugged then stumbled to his bedroom, “c’mon.”

Ren hesitated, “I thought I was sleeping on the sofa?”

Astra thought about it for a moment then shook his head, “The sofa isn’t comfy, my bed is,” he said as he clumsily kicked off his shoes and threw his jacket on the floor. That was a morning Astra problem, “plus Elyse said you like cuddling people when you sleep.” He pushed open his bedroom door and went inside.

“She told you that?!” Ren exclaimed, slightly alarmed.

“Mhmm,” Astra nodded, he pulled off his crop top and slipped out of his jeans, “she thinks it’s sweet.”

“Does she now?” Ren chuckled.

By this point, Astra had crawled under the duvet and was looking at Ren still standing in the bedroom doorway, “Stop being shy, Renaaaard,” he whined. Ren sighed and stripped down to his boxers and a t-shirt then clambered into bed next to Astra.

They two of them lay face to face, “We should do this again,” Astra whispered.

“We should,” Ren agreed. Astra shuffled closer and carefully pushed a lock of Ren’s ginger hair behind his ear. Up close Astra could see all of Ren’s individual freckles. He loved each and every one of them.

“You’re cute,” Astra murmured.

“You’re not bad yourself,” Ren replied. Anxiety forgotten thanks to fruity cocktails, Astra felt brave and leaned in to kiss Ren softly.

“Sorry,” Astra said, he didn’t know why.

“Don’t be,” Ren said and kissed him again, “if you hadn’t done that first, I would have.”

**Author's Note:**

> If y'all want more of this AU, send me some prompts to inspire me. I'm really enjoying these versions of the characters so I'm well up for more!


End file.
